Official Review: Rescuing Awen by David Alan Morrison

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Official Review: Rescuing Awen by David Alan Morrison

Post by Thimble »

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Rescuing Awen" by David Alan Morrison.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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“You can’t wish for your life to be different while fearing change.” – Dell

Rescuing Awen by David Alan Morrison is a great read for ages 10 and above. It is a scifi/fantasy book that preteens and adults can enjoy reading equally. Dell is close to turning 16 years old and mostly lives on his own. His mom is almost always absent, busy working. His father left them without any warning some time before the book begins. Dell’s beloved grandfather died 6 months before the story begins. After the turmoil of his grandfather’s death, Dell has started getting into a routine and does not expect much else to happen. Of course, it wouldn’t be a good story if it stayed that way. In less than a day his whole life is changed once again and through a series of events he is swept off to the planet Awen. While on Awen, he finds something worth fighting for and accepts his responsibilities, no matter the cost. He also uses awesome nature powers to get the job done!

There are two themes from the book that really stick out to me. The first one is living with nature. This is the main theme of the book. Awen is a planet inhabited by many different beings, but none of them truly care about taking care of the planet. This has led to a lot of pollution and trash piling up. The planet is suffering from the damage its inhabitants are doing to it. The big message the reader gets from Dell’s interaction with Awen is that one can live with and off of nature without damaging it. This is an important message for everyone right now with how we are treating Earth. As Dell says in Rescuing Awen, it might be too late for Earth, but we should still try.

The second theme that stayed with me is smaller and in less of the book, but it’s still important. This is the theme of embracing responsibility. By the way other characters describe Dell, it seems that he was not one to take risks and make difficult decisions in the past. However, once he gets his mission, he does everything he can to accomplish his goal. Even if it means losing new friends and putting himself in danger, he accepts his new responsibility and goes with it. I can see this as a good message on a smaller scale for people in everyday life. If there is something wrong and you want to change it, do what you can to change it. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Every small action helps.

Rescuing Awen does not have many characters to follow, which is a good thing since it’s only 180 pages. The main character is Dell. Dell is a mature 15-year old. He’s very independent, probably due to his living situation at home. However, he still has his immature moments, which is natural for someone his age. This is very refreshing writing. I found Dell to be likable and realistic. There are several other reoccurring characters that are not human. The writer gives many of the aliens poor English grammar when they speak. It’s usually different for each type of alien. One particular alien actually has excellent English grammar. I found this to be an interesting writing choice since it’s not done often. It’s really well done and the dialogue is still easy to read and comprehend. All of the characters are very different and unique and the character designs are really well done. My favorite interactions were between Squirrel and Dell. Those two are great together.

There is some very minor profanity. There is worse language in books like Harry Potter. Also, some minor insults are used, like “idiot” and “moron”. There is death and violence, but it is not graphic and is treated respectfully. I rate this book a 3 out of 4. There was nothing content-wise that I did not enjoy. The issues I found were mostly in editing. When the heavy action scenes occur, it’s a little unclear what is happening. Better and more description would make it clearer. It appears that sections of dialogue are missing. The transitions between some scenes can be awkward, but it may be due to missing content. Also, sometimes pieces of dialogue look like they are attributed to the wrong character. There is an Illustrator listed, Karen Axmaker, but the copy of the book I received does not have any illustrations. If these lack of clear description and content-missing issues and are taken care of, I believe this book would get a 4. Also, I would love to see what the illustrations look like.

******
Rescuing Awen
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Post by Eyre-thee-well »

I enjoyed reading this review. It has just the right amount of information without giving away too many details. The themes found interesting and I am always looking for fiction for my 11 year old. Thank you for including what parents may find objectionable. I am very careful about what I allow my children to read, though the content you mentioned would not make my forbidden list.
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

That's a great review... I wonder what happened to the illustrations?
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Post by Thimble »

Eyre-thee-well wrote:I enjoyed reading this review. It has just the right amount of information without giving away too many details. The themes found interesting and I am always looking for fiction for my 11 year old. Thank you for including what parents may find objectionable. I am very careful about what I allow my children to read, though the content you mentioned would not make my forbidden list.
I'm really glad you enjoyed the review. I'm thinking of including things like age restrictions and what might be considered objectionable in my future reviews also. It sounds like it's helpful.

~Thimble

-- 24 Jun 2015, 16:37 --
zeldas_lullaby wrote:That's a great review... I wonder what happened to the illustrations?
The cover looks illustrated, so maybe that's what the Illustrator is being credited for? The cover wasn't included in the .pdf I received so I missed that when I wrote the review.

~Thimble
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Post by Jesska6029 »

It's a bummer you didn't receive the illustrations. Your review is very insightful. Nice work!
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Post by Thimble »

Jesska6029 wrote:It's a bummer you didn't receive the illustrations. Your review is very insightful. Nice work!
Thanks! I try to be informative. :)
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Post by Levi »

Great job being informative without giving away too much, Thimble. I agree with Eyre-thee-well that it is a good idea to let people know if there are any items that would preclude readers of a certain age. I have been thinking about doing that in my reviews as well. I want to say though that your two themes are very dependent upon each other. If you have personal responsibility and love, you will have people living in harmony with each other and with nature! Sounds like the author did a great job if these two themes stood out to you. I enjoyed your review, and also that with the warnings about profanity you let people know that similar books they mght be familiar with had even more than this book. That was a nice touch!
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Post by bookowlie »

I really enjoyed reading your review! It sounds like the book make a lasting impression on you. The different dialogue choices for the aliens sound interesting. Well done!
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Post by Thimble »

Escapeartist wrote:Great job being informative without giving away too much, Thimble. I agree with Eyre-thee-well that it is a good idea to let people know if there are any items that would preclude readers of a certain age. I have been thinking about doing that in my reviews as well. I want to say though that your two themes are very dependent upon each other. If you have personal responsibility and love, you will have people living in harmony with each other and with nature! Sounds like the author did a great job if these two themes stood out to you. I enjoyed your review, and also that with the warnings about profanity you let people know that similar books they mght be familiar with had even more than this book. That was a nice touch!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the review. I do think that personal responsibility and love should go along with respect of nature, but I think nature can be an overlooked thing in today's society. Hopefully this will change soon. :)

-- 25 Jul 2015, 10:41 --
bookowlie wrote:I really enjoyed reading your review! It sounds like the book make a lasting impression on you. The different dialogue choices for the aliens sound interesting. Well done!
Thanks, Bookowlie! I glad you enjoyed reading it. :) I thought the different dialogue choice for the aliens was interesting as well. I've read a lot of books with aliens in them and this is the first time it's ever really stuck out.
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Post by Levi »

I agree, thimble, and I forgot to mention that, yes, the alien dialogue you highlighted did sound like an interesting touch.
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